Purge

"Hubert? Hubert?"

Ato called out the Second Squad Captain's name, but all that came through the comms were the sounds of gunfire gradually fading, along with overlapping cries of pain and screams.

"Bang!"

He slammed a hand heavily on the command console, raising his head. The images from the monitoring system only showed the Death Seekers tangled with the soldiers, while those "Honkai beasts" that had initially charged forward were now moving further and further away.

"Someone tell me, what are those things?"

Ato seemed to be asking a question, but Himeko knew it was not a question, just a statement tinged with complex emotions.

"Honkai energy is reacting in tunnel A10, they've turned into tunnel C8… this is…"

Elvin jumped up suddenly, as if he had been sitting on hot coals—

"Those guys are heading to the experimental area!"

Ato's finger traced the path taken by the "Honkai beasts," and it became clear in his heart—other than Fire Moth's experimental zone, there were no other valuable targets along the path these guys were heading towards.

Coupled with the initial cause of this unrest: Kevin, whose condition was still unknown, and Dr. Mei, who refused to open her lab door, their target was obvious!

"The Third Squad has already gone to support the Second Squad. The First Squad has a lot of casualties, the Fourth Squad must remain as a reserve unit… Himeko, I'll have to trouble you. I'll assign all the First Squad's mechs to you, and go to…"

"Captain Ato!"

Elvin's cry of alarm interrupted Ato once again.

"A large Honkai energy reaction has appeared near Medical Area No. 4!"

Without waiting for Ato's order, Elvin immediately brought up the monitoring feed from Medical Area No. 4 using a small window and started rewinding it.

In the footage, playing at triple speed, a male nurse took advantage of everyone's inattentiveness to inject something into almost all the injured Poison Cocoon patients in Medical Area No. 4. In the end, he even injected himself. A mere two or three minutes later, those patients who had been lying on their sickbeds, barely clinging to life with IV drips and anesthetic needles, jumped out of their beds one by one.

The behavior of the nurses and doctors was somewhat strange. They seemed to have noticed something was wrong from the start, or had received some kind of warning. In any case, when things happened, they had already fled screaming from the medical area and pressed the emergency isolation button. Several heavy armored doors came down with the "clunk clunk" of gears and chains, and white vapor billowed from the hydraulic systems, completely sealing off the medical area.

But what were those armored doors compared to the Honkai energy barriers built by mechs? They couldn't even stop the [people] who were gradually transforming into Honkai beasts for even a minute, but it was enough to allow those nurses and doctors to be sheltered by the Fifth Squad which was on duty nearby.

This time, without any reminder, nor any extra contemplation, Ato immediately guessed their target, and couldn't help but look toward Himeko on his left.

She didn't say anything. As the strongest human fighter present, she silently turned and picked up the still un-repaired Surtr, and quickly rushed out of the war room.

As he expected, the "Honkai beasts" did not charge at the main defense line of the Fifth Squad, but turned and charged towards the General Staff Headquarters only separated by a single corridor!

The Fifth Squad was facing outward, and most of their main force was deployed outside. They never expected anything to happen behind them.

What stood between the "Honkai beasts" and the General Staff Headquarters were just a dozen soldiers and five mechs. The defense line they formed was like a woman's last fig leaf in front of those "Honkai beasts," easily and brutally torn away.

Soon, even across the two corridors, the screams from the General Staff Headquarters could be heard. Of course, that was also due to Himeko, who happened to open the door to the war room at this moment, with one foot barely stepping out.

Too late! Her face was pale. Now, what stood between the unarmed soldiers in the war room and their fate was just her.

But soon, Ato stood by her side, holding a rifle. Then came Pro, Elvin, Cang Xuan, Danzhu… and everyone else.

They shattered the glass on the war room's walls, taking out emergency rifles and ammunition, even riot shields and electric batons, although most of them only had symbolic training in shooting and riot control.

Even Lezlun, who had been hiding in the back, pulled a golden pistol from his chest, slowly loading the golden bullets one by one into the magazine, and then "slammed" the magazine into the gun.

The locking mechanism closed, a clear, crisp sound that echoed in everyone's ears.

Ato still had the mind to jokingly say, "Look, now that those annoying staff members are done for, isn't that satisfying? But Mei is on her own, and I can only pray she can save herself. At least Blanka took little Griseo on vacation… Damn it! If I had known, I would have taken leave to accompany them!"

Himeko glanced at him, even in this situation, he didn't forget to give everyone a dose of dog food.

A suppressed bitter smile erupted in the crowd. Unfortunately, Ato's lame jokes couldn't ease the tense atmosphere—the soldiers here were more like office workers than fighters, and most of them had no combat experience at all!

The screams from the General Staff gradually subsided. Himeko shifted her stance, leaning slightly forward. "Get ready, they're coming!"

"Clang!"

What greeted her was a white light so intense it was chilling.

The light seemed like a silver river cascading down from the sky, but upon impact, it solidified into eternal ice.

What followed was an even sharper, cleaner sound, followed by the continuous vibration of a metal blade. Many people clutched their noses, mistaking it for tinnitus, but the events that followed clearly indicated that it was indeed a single cut, a cut that many people would never be able to achieve in their lifetime—

The metal armor plates vibrated lightly, those who had sharp eyes could see a diagonal line on the wall. Then, after almost ten seconds, more and more cracks appeared on the five-meter-thick metal armor plate, until finally, it fell to the ground like shattered blocks.

And what appeared before everyone were the corpses and flesh of the staff members, large patches of ice and snow, and a dozen surviving staff members.

Some of them had collapsed to the ground, pissing themselves, some were hugging their heads and crying, some were standing blankly, not knowing what to do, and some were spreading their arms as if wanting to welcome death with dignity.

That single strike not only eliminated all enemies, but also didn't injure the survivors in the slightest. And the residual force of that one strike easily destroyed three layers of armor plating, the cyan frost even spread to Himeko's feet and stopped perfectly.

She shook off the non-existent blood, sheathed her blade. The sound of the frost on the blade rubbing against the scabbard was piercing, catching everyone's attention.

"Sakura?"

The girl's figure was much taller and more mature than before. There was also a pair of organs not belonging to [humans] on her head, but her smooth pink hair and clean, crisp back were unmistakable, so Himeko softly called her name.

"It's me."

The girl had her back to the others, and nodded unconsciously. Her slender fox ears swayed slightly as she moved.

She lowered her body slightly, and placed a forget-me-not on the ground. The petals were delicate and tiny, a thin layer of frost immediately forming upon contact with the ground.

"Oh right, there's no need to worry about Dr. Mei's situation, Michael will take care of it."

She slowly turned around, and Himeko noticed the two swords strapped to her waist.

One was the Frost Prison Ice Sky, a blade that radiated cold even without being unsheathed.

But Sakura was using another blade.

A katana that was utterly ordinary from any point of view.

It was hard to believe that single attack just now was from this katana, a blade that wouldn't be considered high quality even among traditional swords.

But for that reason, as Sakura stepped towards the Fire Moth members, many who had only heard stories of her, but had never met her, unconsciously took a step back, as if the chilling aura surrounding her might suddenly coalesce into ice shards, killing everyone on the spot.

Then they focused on the top of Sakura's head, on her pair of thin, elongated ears, which were clearly not from a human, and swayed rhythmically with her light steps.

Any discerning eye could tell that those were organs belonging to a Honkai beast, much like those mutated Poison Cocoon members.

And many people were familiar with the Honkai beast—Emperor-class Yaksha.

Sakura's gaze was a little lonely, but Himeko and Ato on her left and right walked towards her without any hesitation.

Elvin twitched the corner of his mouth, intentionally putting on a confused look, and turned to look at the group of new recruits, who looked hesitant and even a little panicked.

"What are you still hesitating about? At a time like this, even if you don't offer a warm welcome, you shouldn't be looking like you're at a funeral."